Katanas are the Spice of Life
by Obvious Ghost
Summary: A meteor gave you life. A meteor gave you your brother. But what happened in between? A look at the formative years of the most enigmatic of Striders.
1. Ectobrother

The first person you ever see is kind of an idiot.

You don't reach out to him, or even smile. You _certainly_ don't associate him with 'mommy' through adorable baby logic. He is simply too dopey for any of that.

He's wearing a green suit, and the neon is so bright it hurts your eyes. You briefly wish you had some kind of eye-covering gear. Maybe something that could make bright things more bearable. But even the radioactive, glowing nerdsuit can't distract you from how unbelievably _dorky_ this guy's face is.

It is not a loving face, or a happy one. He's wearing more of a confused look than anything. Stunned eyes behind square glasses blink furiously, and he offers you a hesitant, bucktoothed grin. This boy appears to have no idea what's going on.

You sympathize.

There are others, too, much smaller than the dorkboy. You notice the first one trying to climb onto you- a girl, somehow already wearing a ring in her hair- and firmly push her away. Another boy falls off a book that's larger than either of you, and winds up draped over your shoulders.

This is _not cool._

You gracefully roll to one side, shedding the uncoordinated little fool, before you notice some of the other items littered around the floor. There's a cat, and also... a pony, you guess? You don't recognize either of them, but their obvious cuddly factor has most of the tiny monkeys clamboring all over. Too obvious, in fact, so you toddle instead towards one of the others. He's wielding two tube-like devices with a look of fierce concentration. Pointing one of them at you, he squeaks irritably.

This guy's a champ. You like him.

It seems he has the monopoly on fascinating handheld wavingsticks, so you wander off again. A glance back to the center of the room tells you the dopey giant is distracted with some flashing lights and angry yells from his glasses. Satisfied that he won't be chasing you down anytime soon, you crawl towards-

Whoa.

This is

Just

Yes

Your experience is fairly limited, but this is without question the _coolest thing you've ever seen_.

Without a single coo of hesitation, you crawl into the puppet's purple-clothed lap. It's almost as if he's smiling down at you, keeping you safe. You know that's kind of sappy, but right now you don't mind.

Although it is kind of strange that a puppet with a creepy smile is making you feel calm and secure. You might even call it iro-

You fall asleep.

Unfortunately, you will not remember any of this. Not for a long time.


	2. Meteorphan

You are flying.

You don't know the details, of course. You don't know that it should be impossible for a human to be in your situation right now. You don't know that you're on a meteor. You don't even know that this is unusual.

One thing you _do_ know is that you are moving very, very fast. The meteor's surface rattles and shakes, causing your vision to blur slightly. Your hair, short and spiked as it is, sticks straight out behind you. The puppet's arms are waving frantically, fluttering in the wind like... like... something. You find it very frustrating that you can't compare him to anything. You are a baby, after all, and you are still slightly annoyed by this.

But hey, the puppet is still giving you that goofy grin. It's even stranger with the blistering wind whipping his head around. You laugh for the first time.

Looking up, you see lights. Hundreds of them. They're small, but shiny- it's weird that they aren't flying past, but maybe they're too far away.

Another thing you notice is the heat. Everything is warm. Scorching, really. This may have something to do with the fact that the meteor appears to be on fire. Again, being a baby, you don't really mind; the fire isn't hurting, so you decide to roll with it.

You can't hear anything over the howling gale, but movement catches your eye. You glance to the right, and just for a second, you see... is that another meteor? You think it is. It's too far to know for sure, but it looks like there's a little girl, calmly looking back at you, beside a tiny black kitten.

You hold up a clenched fist. She does the same.

A bit flustered, you move your hand forward, as if to hit something. She copies you again, smiling slightly.

Cool.

She's gone in a flash, her meteor changing course in an instant and soaring away. Just before impact, you wonder if you'll see her again.

Wait, impact?

[]

Loud.

Fast.

Sudden.

_Stop_.

[]

You are sitting in a crater.

You look at the puppet, but he seems just as confused as you are.

You hear a bark.


	3. Guardianimal

It is not a happy bark.

A large dog is perched on the edge of the crater, staring down at you with fangs bared. Its pale, white eyes glow against black fur.

You have two reactions.

First, you are scared. This leads you to clutch the puppet's hand tightly. At the same time, though, you are angry, and swing your tiny fist forward.

Logically, the puppet comes along for the ride, slamming into the dog's face and getting its floppy arms hopelessly tangled around the beast's snout. Its aura of menace completely shattered, the dog growls, throwing its head from side to side. You laugh for the second time.

A voice commands something. You stop.

A tall figure bends down to carefully remove the snarl of fabric limbs, and the dog wilts, backing away slowly under his stern gaze.

Something about him seems... memorable. You squint up at the man's face, but all you can make out is that he has red cheeks, like he's tired or angry. Just like some of those other kids were, back in the- whatever that first place was.

He says more words, but you don't know what he means. Eventually, he shrugs and leans down to pick you up.

Normally, this would fall into the "Aw-_heyall_-no" category, but you have decided to make this particular set of arms your vehicle of transportation out of this hole in the ground, so you roll your eyes and sit up straighter. When the man comes closer, you see light glinting off of one of his teeth.

The dog gives you a glare. You smirk.

Not because it's funny. More because... You take some time to think about it as the man scoops you out of the crater.

A random man you've never seen before is carrying you somewhere. A puppet is leering over his shoulder at you, a dog is growling like it wants to eat you, and none of it bothers you in the slightest.

Because you just rode a star into the ground, and it was fun.

The whole thing seems kind of ir-

...There's a word there, you just _know_ it.

[]

_This story isn't left for dead. It will have very short chapters, though._


End file.
